This invention relates to a process for preparing a polysilane by catalytic dehydrogenative condensation of an organo-trihydrosilane in the presence of an organotitanium or organozirconium complex catalyst. The present invention also pertains to a novel organozirconium complex catalyst.
Polysilanes are useful for application as an electrically conductive material, a luminescent material, a photoelectric conversion material, a non-linear optical material, a photoresist material, a ceramic precursor, a polymerization initiator, etc.
One known process for the production of a polysilane includes subjecting an organo-trihydrosilane to dehydrogenative condensation in the presence of a ziroconocene silyl complex such as Cp.sub.2 ZrMe.sub.2 (Organometallics, vol. 10, 3430-3432 (1991)). With this process, however, the weight average molecular weight of the polysilane is at most 5,000. To improve the polymerization degree, a method has been proposed in which a tri(perfluoro-phenyl)borane is added to the reaction system. Also known is a method in which hydrogen gas produced in situ is continuously removed from the reaction system. These methods, however, are not industrially advantageous. Furthermore, even with the above methods, the degree of polymerization is not high.